


The Right Answer

by Leni



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 15:19:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10311167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: A quiet evening at the Hamilton's.





	

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: wonderland

Tired after a day minding the children, Eliza chose to retire early. Setting down her sampler, she confessed to her sister that she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

Angelica raised a teasing eyebrow. “Then stop bedding down in your husband’s room, little one,” she suggested in a whisper, “you might get more rest that way.”

Eliza blushed, laughing despite herself. A kiss on her sister’s cheek and she rose from the couch, heading for the chair Alexander was using and nudging the candle closer to him. He murmured his thanks without raising his eyes from the book, and looked up only when Eliza walked behind him and threaded her arms around his neck. “Good night, Alex,” she whispered, definitely avoiding to look her sister’s way.

Alexander leaned a little into her embrace, a soft smile on his lips. “Rest well, love.”

Eliza left, leaving the other two to entertain themselves. Alexander, drafting his response to Washington’s latest letter, while Angelica put aside the mending she’d been helping her sister with and, candle in hand, perused the contents of the relatively small bookcase her brother-in-law kept in the sitting room for easy access of his favorite texts.

She picked a thin tome, lifting an eyebrow at the wordy title. “Poetry, Alex?”

“Philip requested I add it to the collection.”

Angelica chuckled. “You spoil that boy,” she told him.

Alexander grinned with the satisfaction of a man who cherished the role of a father when he'd had none. “Indeed.”

With another fond smile, Angelica turned back to her search and finally settled for a copy of Gulliver’s Travels.

Silence descended over the room, broken only by the swipe of a feather across paper and the crisp sound of turned pages. Settled in happy companionship, the two of them lost themselves in their respective tasks, with Angelica amusing herself with the misadventures of a fictional character while Alexander wrestled with the perfect phrasing to convince Washington to take his side and not Jefferson’s.

Then Angelica laughed. “Oh, I see why you keep this one here!” she said, brandishing the book as excitedly as a prosecutor with a damning piece of evidence. “Every country this poor sailor visits is flawed, even when the rulers are blind to the fact.”

Alexander looked up, blinking as his mind shifted gears. Then he smirked. “I’m thinking it would make an appropriate Christmas gift for a few... associates... of mine.”

Angelica put her fingers over her mouth to cover a giggle. “I see. How generous of you.”

“We can’t be giants resting on our laurels, confident we live in a wonderland when there is still so much work to do.” Even in candlelight, unshakeable determination showed in his face. “I know they won’t listen, but I have to try.”

Angelica nodded. “You will do it, Alexander.”

His eyes met hers, gratefulness for her support brightening his expression. “What would I do without you, my dear?”

She laughed, knowing his sentiment was sincere but still amused because it was all feeling with no substance. For years he had dealt well with only her letters, and now that she had returned to New York, Angelica realized that for all her efforts to encourage him, it had been the quieter help of Eliza, tending to their home and raising their children, that had provided Alexander with the peace he needed to rise as one of the leading men in the country.

A man could work to improve his country with a clear conscience, when his home life ran in harmony.

Angelica was proud of him, of course.

But it was her little sister who deserved at least half the credit, and it saddened her to realize that, as it was for all women, history would deny it to her.

"Nothing different at all,” she answered him.

His gaze softened.

Perhaps there was also an old, dusty corner in his heart, forever wondering about the choices they hadn’t made. But it expressed itself in a brief smile, just a little bittersweet and not regretful at all. “Probably not,” Alexander agreed.

Angelica smiled.

That had been the right answer.

 

The End  
15/03/17

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! Please leave a comment. :)


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